Honest Caterham admits it underperformed

NEWS STORY18/11/2012

Mat Coch writes:

It was a refreshingly honest Caterham which faced the media after qualifying on Saturday. The Leafield squad, which lost its tenth place in the Constructors' Championship to rivals Marussia in Singapore, was out-qualified by both the Anglo-Russian cars for the first time in the outfit's three-year history.

However while some teams may have looked to put a positive spin on the result, citing a difficult day, blaming the wind or perhaps the drivers inability to come to grips with the all-new Circuit of the Americas, Caterham 'fessed up'.

"We underperformed today," said Heikki Kovalainen. "It's really that simple. We went with a plan that didn't work and unfortunately both Vitaly and I weren't able to get enough heat into the tyres to get the best out of them, or manage the traffic well enough to get a clean lap in."

Kovalainen's comments where seconded by teammate Petrov who said simply that qualifying "obviously didn't go how we wanted it to."

The poor result comes at a critical time for Caterham which has just two races in which to secure a twelfth place finish or better if it is to secure financial benefits from Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management.

It has been suggested that Kovalainen's services for 2013 could be in doubt should the team not secure the spot.